The Council of Istari
by RuneWitchSakura
Summary: minorreallyminorLOTRxover. Hermione finds a passage in a book that may help Harry face off with Fudge and Dumbles and prepare the Wizarding World for Voldie. But will it stand for long? Some Slash, but not a lot. Main Pairing: HarryHermione. On Hold.
1. Prologue

Pairings: Hermione/Harry, Seamus/Dean, Ginny/Draco, Blaise/Luna, Neville/Daphne, Fred/Susan, George/Cho.

* * *

Prologue

* * *

Hermione was searching through books in the Black Family Library. She was searching for anything that could possibly help Harry win the war against Voldemort. But with the Ministry _and_ Dumbledore against him, there weren't a lot of options. Dumbledore had convinced most of the Order that Harry was going evil. Of course Dumbledore didn't know Harry knew; hell, Dumbledore didn't know that Hermione was spying on the Order for Harry. 

'This looks like it'll help on the Dumbledore and Ministry fronts,' thought Hermione as she read through the passage.

The Council of Istari was put into place 200 years after the final death of the Dark Lord Sauron. The Council is the rightful rulers of the British Wizarding World, and consists of fourteen houses. Each house consists of one person. For a law to be passed, at least 10 of the fourteen houses must pass it. Each house has a partner house that can lay legal claim to the partner if said partner is currently unable to speak for themselves. The following is the list of houses in the Council and a self updating list of the house members.

House of Aragorn

Partner: Arwen

Member: Harry James Potter

House of Arwen

Partner: Aragorn

Member: Hermione Jane Granger

House of Elrond

Partner: Gandalf

Member: Cho Lian Chang

House of Eowyn

Partner: Faramir

Member: Daphne Megan Greengrass

House of Fabian

Partner: Gideon

Member: Frederick Tavis Weasley

House of Faramir

Partner: Eowyn

Member: Blaise Jordan Zabini

House of Frodo

Partner: Samwise

Member: Susan Amelia Bones

House of Gandalf

Partner: Elrond

Member: Luna Tamryn Lovegood

House of Gideon

Partner: Fabian

Member: George Tevis Weasley

House of Gimili

Partner: Legolas

Member: Ginerva Molly Weasley

House of Legolas

Partner: Gimili

Member: Draconis Lucian Malfoy

House of Meriadoc

Partner: Peregrin

Member: Seamus Ethan Finnigan

House of Peregrin

Partner: Meriadoc

Member: Dean Chester Thomas

House of Samwise

Partner: Frodo

Member: Neville Franklin Longbottom

Hermione dropped the book, with her mouth open in shock. She quickly shook herself out of the stupor, picked the book back up, and ran with it to Harry.

* * *

Okay, until I can get back to writing Even Vampires Are Afraid Of The Dark, I'll be updating this. I am not stopping the other story, just taking a break from it. Read and Review. Smiles. 

Rune


	2. Return of the Council

Pairings: Hermione/Harry, Seamus/Dean, Ginny/Draco, Blaise/Luna, Neville/Daphne, Fred/Susan, George/Cho.

* * *

Chapter 1: Return of the Council

* * *

Harry looked up from his photo album as Hermione burst into the room, closed the door, and put up silencing wards. 

"Where's the fire," he joked. Hermione gave him the look and handed him a book. (Rune: Hey! I'm a poet, and didn't know it. LOL.)

"Read this," Hermione said, pointing to the passage. Harry achieved pretty much the same state that Hermione did after reading it.

"Look there's more," Hermione said, making Harry come out of his stupor, "_Only members of the House of Aragorn can reinstate the Council if it is ever disbanded_. Well, I guess that means we get out of here, and you summon the members of the council."

"Yeah, but how exactly do we get out of here. We can't just walk out the front door," Harry said. Hermione 'hmm'ed then read a little further in the book.

"AHA!," she exclaimed, "We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, right? Well this says that _the goblins are the biggest allies of the Council of Istari_. When we go into Gringotts, tell them you must see the head Goblin, and that it relates to business of the Council. In fact, why don't we send them a letter today, to forewarn them about our coming."

"That'll work," Harry said, as the two started on the letter.

* * *

Ragnok, the head Goblin of Gringotts, watched curiously as a snowy white owl landed on his desk. Usually mail to him, was directed to another Goblin who sorted through it, and handed him only the things deemed important. In fact the only owls that could get through that had to be carrying letters about - but no, that couldn't be. The Council of Istari was disbanded around a hundred years ago. 

To Whom It May Concern:

It has come to our attention that the time has come for the Council of Istari to rule once more. As the goblins have been listed as the biggest allies to the Council, we were hoping to meet with you before we formally reinstate the Council. We will be arriving in Diagon Alley tomorrow and will try to separate from our group to attend a meeting if one is possible. We look forward to meeting you.

Harry Potter, House of Aragorn

Hermione Granger, House of Arwen

Ragnok dropped the note in surprise. Then he summoned another goblin; everything must be prepared correctly for tomorrow's meeting.

* * *

Their group, consisting of them, Remus, Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, and Moody, entered Gringotts. So far, neither Harry nor Hermione had been able to come up with any plans to escape. Thankfully, they were saved having to do anything drastic…like, say, catching Moody's wood leg on fire. Before the group managed to get to a teller, a goblin, dressed in a royal blue uniform, came forward. 

"The Head Goblin wishes to speak with Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger," the Goblin said.

"Not without me, Remus, or Tonks goin'," Moody said.

"You may come with them, but the Head Goblin must see them alone." Moody's eyes narrowed.

"I'll go," Remus said to prevent any hostility.

"Very well," the goblin said, "If the three of you would please follow me."

* * *

"You two wish to reinstate the Council of Istari, correct?" Ragnok asked. 

"Yes," Hermione said, "The state of the current government is disgusting. It needs to be changed, and it seems the only way to do that is by bringing back the Council of Istari."

"There is something else you seek to do with the Council," Ragnok stated.

"Albus Dumbledore is starting to make people believe I am going 'dark' when I'm not. The Ministry is already after my head, so to speak, trying to get me in trouble for defending my self," Harry said, "I'm the only one prophesized to defeat Voldemort, and I can't do that with both Dumbledore and the Ministry against me."

"Very well," Ragnok said, "Do you have the list? It should have been in a book."

"This one?" Hermione asked, handing him the book.

"Yes," Ragnok said, skimming the pages till he reached the list, and writing the names down, "We will be sending out letters within a few days to gather everyone on the list."

"Thank you," Harry said.

"And if anyone asks," Ragnok said slyly, "Tell them it was about a marriage contract."

"Um okay," Harry said.

* * *

Mr. Harry Potter,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Aragorn. Your portkey will activate at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Ms. Hermione Granger,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Arwen. Your portkey will activate at 9:46 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Fred Weasley,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Fabian. Your portkey will activate at 9:47 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. George Weasley,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Gideon. Your portkey will activate at 9:48 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Blaise Zabini,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Faramir. Your portkey will activate at 9:49 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Daphne Greengrass,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Eowyn. Your portkey will activate at 9:50 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Seamus Finnigan,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Meriadoc. Your portkey will activate at 9:51 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Dean Thomas,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Peregrin. Your portkey will activate at 9:52 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Draco Malfoy,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Legolas. Your portkey will activate at 9:53 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Ms. Ginny Weasley,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Gimili. Your portkey will activate at 9:54 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Mr. Neville Longbottom,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Samwise. Your portkey will activate at 9:55 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Ms. Susan Bones,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Frodo. Your portkey will activate at 9:56 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Ms. Luna Lovegood,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Gandalf. Your portkey will activate at 9:57 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

Ms. Cho Chang,

You are being called for a meeting of the Council of Istari as representative for the House of Elrond. Your portkey will activate at 9:58 a.m. on Saturday of this week. The meeting will begin at ten. Tell no one of this.

Ragnok

Head Goblin of Gringotts

* * *

"What the hell is going on!" Seamus yelled. They had all been sent into a conference room when they arrived.

"If you'll wait another seven minutes Seamus, you'll find out," Harry said.

"Find what out?" Ginny asked coming into the room.

"Correction, another six minutes," Harry said. Six minutes later, when all the members were accounted for, Ragnok started the meeting.

"How many of you know about the Council of Istari?" he asked. All but Ginny, Fred, George, Susan raised their hands.

"Alright, for those of you who don't know, the Council is the rightful ruler of British Wizarding world. Mr. Potter, if you would." Harry stood up.

"As representative of the House of Aragorn, I hereby reinstate the Council of Istari," Harry said.

* * *

There's chapter one. Hope you liked it. Next chapter I'll try to explain the council more indepth. Read and Review. Smiles.

Rune


	3. Starting the Council

Chapter 2: Starting the Council

* * *

"Alright, for those of you who don't know, the Council is the rightful ruler of British Wizarding world. Mr. Potter, if you would." Harry stood up.

"As representative of the House of Aragorn, I hereby reinstate the Council of Istari," Harry said.

"If the Council is the rightful ruler of the British Wizarding world, then why doesn't everyone in the Wizarding world know about it?" Ginny asked.

"Dumbledore," Draco said, "The Council would put a stop to his plans, so he'd rather not have people learn of it. That's why it isn't taught about at Hogwarts. The Weasley's are nothing but Dumbledore's puppets, no offence to you, so if he asked, your parents probably wouldn't have told any of you about the Council. Your oldest brother might know of it, but that's a pretty slim chance."

"Draco's right," Harry said, "Dumbledore doesn't want the council back. He's a manipulative old codger."

"And you're just now figuring this out Potter?" Blaise said.

"No, I've actually known since Dumbledore started spreading around rumors that I'm 'going dark'," Harry said, using his fingers to make quotes.

"So how exactly was the council made?" Susan asked.

"A long time ago," Neville started, "Earth was called Middle-Earth. I won't go into specifics, but it's main inhabitants were Elves, Dwarves, Men, Goblins, and Orcs. Near the ending of Middle-Earth there was a quest to destroy a ring of great and evil power that was owned by the Dark Lord Sauron. This ring was the only reason Sauron was alive at all and it was believed to be a horcrux.

"A group of nine set out. Four Hobbits; Meriadoc, Peregrin, Frodo, and Samwise; Two Men; Aragorn, and Boromir; A Dwarf; Gimili; An Elf; Legolas; and a Wizard; Gandalf. They successfully completed their quest and Sauron was killed with only one casualty within the nine: Boromir. Two-hundred years later, as Middle-Earth was nearing it's end, decedents of the remaining eight created the Council of Istari.

"The houses were named for each member of the group, except for Boromir. He had died after falling to the ring's power. They did however name a house for his younger brother, Faramir, who went up against the ring's power and did not fall. There were houses named for Arwen and Eowyn, the wives of Aragorn and Faramir respectively, and a house named for Arwen's father, Elrond, who was an Elven Lord. The Council added the houses of Fabian and Gideon around a thousand years later, for their help in destroying the current Dark Lord, even though it cost them their lives. The sons of Fabian and Gideon were the first to hold seats in those Houses.

"They ruled until about seven hundred years ago, when the representative of the House of Aragorn had died of old age. The next in line for the Council seat was too young to take it at the time. He was three, I think. Before he could reinstate the Council when he became of age, he was killed. The next in line after him was also killed before reinstating the Council. After that, people just quit trying, and the Ministry, which was built to rule in the time that the representative of the House of Aragorn was too young to reinstate the Council, was made permanent."

"Wow," Hermione said, "Even I didn't know that much about the Council." Neville smiled, sheepishly.

"Where'd you learn all that?" Daphne asked, astounded. Neville blushed.

"My Gran," Neville said, "And she made absolutely sure I would never forget it. She quizzes me on it at random intervals."

* * *

Cornelius Fudge paled at the letter in front of him. He recognized the owl. Harry Potter was the only one with a white owl. He had thought that maybe Harry had come to his senses and was going to give him information on Dumbledore. But no. No, the letter stated the return of the Council of Istari, and his ensuing suspension. They would be coming in two days. Damn…he was, most definitely and assuredly, screwed.

* * *

The Minister was not the only one to receive a letter telling of the return of the Council. Several others did as well, including the heads of prominent families: Lucius Malfoy, Aberforth Dumbledore, and Jacob Zabini among them.

Lucius Malfoy paled as he read the letter, until he got to the part where the names were listed. A smirk grew on his face as he read his son's name as well as a few other Slytherins. Looks like he would easily control part of the council.

Aberforth Dumbledore read through the letter and smiled. It was about damn time that the Council returned. Of course, there was no law stating that he _had_ to tell his younger brother. Let the brat find out the hard way.

Jacob Zabini blinked and reread the letter. So that's why Blaise took a portkey to Gringotts. Sneaky little brat.

* * *

Madam Malkin squealed, quite similar to a fangirl, when the goblin told her what he wanted her to do. She was to make the uniforms for the Council of Istari, although she only had a day (timeturners were useful on orders like this). The colors for the Council were silver and midnight blue. After leading the fourteen members to the back of her shop, she took measurements of each of them. While she started worked on the uniforms, the fourteen of them split up into their own groups.

Hermione and Harry continued reading the book until they got a passage that stated "_all representatives of the House of Aragorn and House of Arwen are either related or married._" upon which they stopped reading, and blushed brightly. Seamus and Dean got a hold of the book after that and started teasing the two of them. Draco was talking to Ginny, under the watchful eyes of Fred and George. Blaise had become enraptured with Luna, and was currently discussing the finer points of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, even though he had no clue what they were. Daphne was talking about the Council's history with a blushing and stuttering Neville, not that she wasn't blushing herself. Susan and Cho were talking in hushed voices with occasional glances and sly smiles at the oblivious Weasley twins who were still keeping an eye on Draco and Ginny.

"You realize I'm not going to be able to spy on the Order for you anymore, right?" Hermione asked quietly. Seamus and Dean were now reading the book, sitting closer together than normal.

"It's alright. I already know who's against me. We'll just find someone who's for me to do it," Harry replied. "We need some way to get information out to the public that can't be distorted by opinion too."

"We could do our own newspaper," Hermione said. "The Daily Prophet is known for writers like Skeeter that will just make things up if it's false; the Quibbler is thought by most of the Wizarding World to be a load of crock; and the Wireless is just a commentary – they don't report the news, merely give their opinions on it. All three are already tainted by some type of opinion, so we make our own."

"Sounds good to me, but how do we do it?"

"We'll start by asking the goblins.

* * *

Alexander Jimbly was a thirty-three year old muggleborn. His parents had died in a car accident right after he graduated from Hogwarts. Disheartened, he still tried to go through with his dream to open his own Newspaper, one that wouldn't be as opinionated as others that were around. He had taken out a loan from the goblins – a large loan to be paid back within a year – only to have his paper flop when the Ministry put it down hard after getting a large bribe from a pureblood enthusiast.

The goblins had been uncharacteristically understanding, giving him ten years to pay back the loan instead of one. That ten years was up today, so he wasn't surprised when goblin guards surrounded him and dragged him to Gringotts Bank. And if he wasn't mistaken, the pureblood who had bribed the Ministry in the first place was standing just down the street, smirking. He was put in a room with the goblin that had given him the loan in the first place – Goldteeth – and the Head of the Bank.

"Look, I know time is up, but it's just a few thousand more galleons. I can make it up if I had another year," Alex said. He expected the goblin to snarl before demanding his head as payment or maybe one of a thousand other scenarios that had rolled through his mind as the due date got closer.

"You're loan has been paid off by Harry Potter," Goldteeth said, grinning. Alex definitely wasn't expecting that.

"What?"

"He said, I paid your loan off," a voice from behind him said. Alex turned to see the Boy-Who-Lived smiling at him. "I have a deal for you – one that would make both of us happy."

* * *

Alex could hardly believe his luck. Not only had Harry Potter – HARRY FREAKING POTTER! – paid off his debt to the goblins, he was giving Alex a chance to start up his dream again. A newspaper that would only print the truth.

The girl, Hermione Granger, had explained about the Council of Istari and how they needed a newspaper to help them talk to the public, without all opinions of the writers getting in the way, or opinions of the readers of the paper. Everything had been set up already, and now he was in a conference room with the whole Council, planning the name of the paper.

"It has to be something that would make people buy the paper, even if they don't really want to read it," Harry said.

"Yeah, something that would make it look like they were smarter than they actually are," Ginny said.

"Something catchy, with 'Istari' in the name," Blaise said.

"Istari Times?" Neville offered.

"Good, but not that catchy," Fred said. "I've got it. The Istari Intellectual!"

"It would definitely make anyone who read it seem smarter," Draco said.

"I like it," Harry said. "Anybody vote a nay on this one?" No one did. The name of the newspaper had been agreed on.

"Now, how do we get everyone interested in buying it?" Cho asked.

"During the first week, we send it to everyone for free, along with a form in the back to be put on the mailing list, as well as the price. What would the price be?"

"It'll be ten Knuts or so to produce every paper, depending on the size, and then you definitely will want to make a profit."

"The Prophet is only a few Knuts a day though, and that's pretty big," Seamus said.

"They cheat," Alex said, "They only print one copy, and then use spells to duplicate it and send the duplicates out. The Ministry owns the Prophet, and they want to make as much money as possible over it. But each copy only lasts a few days at the most."

"I want ours to last," Harry said. "A Sickle per paper?"

"That's a good price," Luna said. "Copies of the Quibbler sell for 5 Sickles every week."

"We could do free weekend copies for those on the mailing list," Daphne suggested.

"What about those who couldn't afford a Sickle a day?" George asked.

"Hmm…we have a subscription payment service. They get the paper for a year and pay it off when they can afford to, and then end up only paying fifteen Knuts per paper instead of a full Sickle," Neville said.

"That works," Harry said. "Now we need to find some journalists that are capable of writing without putting their own opinion in it."

"I've already taken care of that," Goldteeth said, placing a paper in front of Harry. "This is a list of witches and wizards who just graduated their journalism classes. They have either no affiliation, or little affiliation at all, with Dumbledore, Voldemort, and the Ministry. There are only ten right now, but there are others that are still being screened."

"This is great," Harry said, passing the paper around.

"Hey Harry?" Dean asked, "What about a kids section of the paper? To make it more appealing to people with younger kids."

"We could have all sorts of neat activities for the kids to do," Susan said.

* * *

The Order of the Phoenix was in a frenzy. They had misplaced not only Harry Potter, but Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Ginny Weasley. Molly Weasley was hysterical, and no one could calm her down. Anyone who tried got a fry pan thrown at them, and after the first few concussions, the other members of the Order gave up.

Dumbledore had, with his grandfatherly mask on, said that Harry must have finally snapped and kidnapped the other four to torture them or commit some other dastardly deed upon. The Order members, save the few that believed in Harry, soaked it right up, and started calling for Harry's head. Dumbledore calmed them.

"We will have to find him. He must be saved from himself," Dumbledore said. "I will leak out that he is missing to the Prophet. I expect it will be in a special evening edition." The Daily Prophet only had evening edition when such important news happened that it couldn't wait till the morning.

* * *

Dumbledore was only partially right. There was an evening edition of the Prophet, but it didn't say anything about Harry Potter being missing – quite the opposite in fact.

**_Potter Reinstates Council of Istari_**

_By: Rita Skeeter_

_Our very own Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, is not only the heir to the Potter Family, but also the Lord of House Aragorn of the Council of Istari. He has chosen to reinstate the Council, only hours before letters went out to all Family Heads and several important people at the Ministry of Magic._

Dumbledore read the rest of the article and fumed. This would not be good for his plans.

* * *

If anything is confusing, leave it in a review or PM me and I'll try to explain it more in the next chapter. This is part of a huge update of all my unfinished stories. This being story number twenty of twenty-seven. Only seven more stories to write, and then I start posting the chapters. Yay! Read and Review please! Smiles!

Rune


	4. Dreaded Author's Note

To My Readers:

Yes, the dreaded Author's Note rather than an update. As I'm sure you noticed, I haven't updated any of my stories in well over a year, and several of them in well, several years. **I'm not giving them up, but it has been a long time, so here's the deal.**

I'll be slowly but surely moving them to my livejournal account. mchilz (dot) livejournal (dot) com The link will also be up on my profile. My e-mail is also mchilz (at) hotmail (dot) com. I know I've meant to put that in the latest updates, but well, the updates didn't happen.

This allows for two things:

(**One**) I will be able to keep track of when I've updated any fanfics (with fanfic in the title of the post), and will guilt myself into posting if I don't see one at least every two weeks.

(**Two**) I will be able to edit to my heart's content. I easily fix mistakes that I didn't quite catch the first time proof reading. I can also rewrite most of them. If you've read some of my earlier stories and some of my latest ones, you can tell that my writing style has changed a bit.

I've honestly looked back at some of them and thought, _I wrote this? Seriously?_

As soon as each story is done, it will be moved back over here. Not that I'm taking any of the stories down. The chapters already here will just be replaced. In the newest chapters I will have a note in bold at the top saying 'Read from the beginning'.

As for my livejournal, you'll know you're there when you see 'Random Writings' as the heading with 'MChilz' directly under it. On the left hand column, under the title 'FANFICTION LINKS' will be a link to the master fanfiction post (for everything and for each fandom) for easy access.

I update my livejournal a lot with amusing things that my cat or brother did, spiders scaring the crap out of me, writer's block, and every dream I can remember, quite a few of which will likely get turned into fanfiction themselves. So, you'll definitely want to use the fanfiction master post, so you don't get lost.

I will likely continue my updates at Twisting the Hellmouth, as that has different stories then here, but fanficion and mediaminer will have to wait for updates (I've forgotten my password to mediaminer and fictionesque anyway. So as soon as I figure them out, I'll post a similar note there).

Sincerely,

RuneWitchSakura


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